House-door letter-box



(No Model.)

EMARKELL HOUSE DOOR LETTER BOX.

INVENTOR: I

BY 442/: 3 M

1 1P I l Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

v An v X w w w w w Ea @Z 79 626417). WM.

ATTORNEY.

UNiTED STATES AIENT -rrica.

EDWARD MABKELIJ, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

HOUSE-DOOR LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,371, dated March31, 1891.

Application filed December 11, 1890. Serial No. 374,310. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that. I, EDWARD MARKELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to letter-boxes for private residences, and isespecially intended to be applied to street-doors, but of course mightbe used in other connections. The main object in view is to provide analarm which will sound whenever the lid of the box is opened, andindicate the deposit of mail and prevent tampering with the box.

The invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction andcombinations of parts described hereinafter, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of the box asseen from the inside of the dwelling, showing it attached to thestreet-door; Fig. 2, a vertical cross-section; Fig. 3, a verticallongitudinal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. at, ahorizontalcross-section on the line at 4 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 an outside view ofthe street-door.

The letter A designates the street-door of a residence, which isprovided at a suitable height with a semicircular opening a, closed by alid a, hinged to the inside of the door and opening inwardly. It is heldclosed by a spring a coiled around the hinge. A box B is secured to thedoor on the inside and includes said opening a and also incloses all thedevices connected with the alarm. This box is preferably ofsemi-cylindrical form, and is cast with its upper half closed and with arounded closed top, while the lower half is opeu-work, so that anymatter deposited will be readily discernible from without; but theinterstices are made small enough so that no mail contained in the boxcan be abstracted through them The bottolnof the box is closed by ahinged plate I), which is locked by any suitable means. In the drawingsI have shown the plate provided with a projection b, which abuts againsta similar projection 11 from the box, and a padlock is introducedthrough registering apertures in said projections. The lid is hinged bymeans of trunnions c, fitting in grooves or notches in the sides of thebox. At one side of the lid a is fixed a bell (I, which is secureddirectly to the door A, and has 011 its exteriora coiled spring D,secured at one end to the bell and having attached to its opposite end ahammer or clapper Din such position as to strike the bell. This clapperhas a hooked outer end (I, which projects over the side edge a of thelid a into the path of the latter. It will be obvious that when the lidis pushed back it will engage the hooked end of said clapper and pushthe latter away from the bell against the action of the spring D untilits edge a rides over said hooked end, when the spring will immediatelyreturn the clapper, so that it strikes the bell and sounds the alarm.-hen the lid springs shut, it rides over the clapper, which has a curvedback surface (Z for this purpose. The clapper in its normal positionstands off from the bell, so that it will have room to readily move outof the path of the lid as the latter closes.

The lid to has a metallic plate a on its front face, and upon it may beinscribed the number of the house or the name of the occupant, or both.

The clapper of the bellis so located with respect to the lid that thelatter cannot be opened a suflicient distance to insert the hand withoutringing the alarm, and hence, beside indicating the arrival of the mailtampering with the box will be detected.

In order to render the box more secure from burglary I provide aserrated guard-plate to, which is located below the lid a and hinged tothe door A, having a projection or prop w, which holds it in an inclinedposition. This guard-plate will prevent the abstraction of mail-matterthrough the receiving-slot, for it will be seen that if a persons handis thrust.

down pastthe said plate and matter in the box grasped, in the attempt towithdraw the hand the teeth of the serrated guard-plate will beencountered, and the said plate being hinged an upward movement willcause it to be thrown. out against the inserted hand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Let tors Patent, is-

1. In a letter-box, the combination of a hinged lid opening into thebox, a bell located at one side of the said lid and having a clapperattached to the end of a spriu g on the exterior of the bell, saidclapper projecting over the edge of the hinged lid, whereby when thelatter is opened back its edge engages the clapper and pushes it awayfrom the bell against the action of the spring and then trips the saidclapper and allows the spring to return it against the bell, the saidclapper normally standing off from the bell and having a curved backsurface over which the edge of the lid rides when the latter closes.

2. The combination of the door A, having a suitable opening (L, aspring-actuated hinged lid closing said opening, a box secured to thedoor and including said lid,and a bell in the boX at one side of saidlid having a springclapper on its exterior projecting over the edge ofthe lid and normally standing off from the bell and provided with acurved back surface, for the purpose described.

The combination of the door A, having a 20 suitable opening a, aspring-actuated hinged lid closing said opening, a box secured to thedoor and including said lid, and a serrated guard-plate hinged to thedoor below the said opening and held in an inclined position by .25 asuitable-prop, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

EDXVARD MARKELL.

Witnesses:

T. P. DAvIs, J NO. '1. MADDOX.

